More physicians practising in Sask.

Access to physicians has improved within the province.
 
According to the Government of Saskatchewan, dozens of physicians have recently begun working in Saskatchewan.
 
A total of 40 new family doctors are practising in the province, with some of them graduating from the University of Saskatchewan.
 
The retention rate of local family medicine graduates has jumped by 17 per cent over the past three years to 75 per cent.

Also, 10 new international medical graduates (IMGs) are practising in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment is a unique program that assesses IMGs on their education and clinical ability before allowing them to practise medicine.

The program began in 2011 and more than 190 new family physicians have completed the assessment and are currently practising in the province.

“I’m very pleased that these local medical graduates have decided to practise in Saskatchewan,” Rural and Remote Health Minister Greg Ottenbreit said in a news release. “Internationally trained physicians also play a vital role in our health system, and we welcome them to our province.  Thanks to the increased investments by our government in both home-grown and internationally trained doctors, we now have nearly 650 more physicians practising today than we did nine years ago.”
 
Some of the Saskatchewan physician recruitment and retention initiatives are a competitive compensation package for physicians, the number of post-graduate physician training seats at the College of Medicine has doubled to 120 seats and the Rural Family Physician Incentive Program provides recent graduates with up to $120,000 over five years if they set up a practise in a community with fewer than 10,000 people.